Salvete, errabundi lectores.I had an idea that I think some here would be interested in. Some background: I am a high-school student in the second trimester of a two-trimester Latin II course, and probably the best class I've ever taken, period.

To the idea: I shall, on a basis of a few times a week, document the content covered in this class. My reasoning for considering this is simply that /somebody/ on a board titled "Learning Latin" must be interested in how the modern high-school student may learn enough Latin to read Caesar and Virgil in a public school. I would format this either as comments to this thread or edits to the OP. Each installment would probably be a paragraph, detailing our studies, and possibly a "pilot" to describe our current general knowledge. This all depends on YOUR opinions, though! Wouldn't want to write to nobody.

Thoughts?

Last edited by SgtMurphy on Thu Apr 03, 2014 12:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yes, stay on this thread, but with a new post each time. If you just make edits in your first post, it will get confusing as people respond to it, and it won't be clear which edit or entry they're referring to.

Damoetas wrote:Yes, stay on this thread, but with a new post each time. If you just make edits in your first post, it will get confusing as people respond to it, and it won't be clear which edit or entry they're referring to.

I guess there could be ways around that, but yes, I see where you're coming from. I'm still planning out the first post.

Alright, so school has been busy, hindering my ability to get on the forum, but here it goes:My class is mostly sophomores, in the second trimester of the second year of Latin. Our Latin learning has been fairly prescriptive. By the end of first year, we knew/had covered, roughly:all main conjugations plus esse and pres.act. infinitives,Relative, demonstrative, and personal pronouns,Declensions up to 2nd (i.e. "-ī forms. We touched on 3rd (-is forms) very briefly),Basic sentence structure,And the whole indicative mood.

Up until now, in 2nd year, we have covered:4th (ūs) and 5th (ei) declensions,Posse and infinitives in all tenses and voices,Indirect statement (i.e. accusative-infinitive construction),and participles.EDIT: I forgot to add reflexive/intensive pronouns to 2nd year.

Last edited by SgtMurphy on Sat Apr 19, 2014 5:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Unfortunately, no. The course is more intended to promote reading, comprehension and composition. Speaking it conversationally is not a goal of the course, unless you consider reading out loud to be speaking.I would much enjoy if this changed, but as of yet that's how it is.

Sarge, you lucky son of a Sooner (Centurione, maledictus et fortunatissimus). Wouldn't think of IN as a classically inclined state, but good for y'all. Latin in public school!!! How did that get past a 21st century philistine, post-modern county school board?

franciscus wrote:Sarge, you lucky son of a Sooner (Centurione, maledictus et fortunatissimus). Wouldn't think of IN as a classically inclined state, but good for y'all. Latin in public school!!! How did that get past a 21st century philistine, post-modern county school board?

Our city is a relatively modern and progressive one. We've also got one of the largest universities in the state situated right here, so naturally some interesting pre-collegiate academic opportunities are to be expected.

Hmmm... how beautifully ironic that a modern and progressive community would reach back to the supposedly obsolete ancient classics. Your folk have realized that progress is impossible without constant recursion to the classics, and that not all of the modern is better than what came before.

BTW, I meant Hoosier rather than Sooner, got IN and OK mixed up, hehehe .

franciscus wrote:Hmmm... how beautifully ironic that a modern and progressive community would reach back to the supposedly obsolete ancient classics. Your folk have realized that progress is impossible without constant recursion to the classics, and that not all of the modern is better than what came before.

BTW, I meant Hoosier rather than Sooner, got IN and OK mixed up, hehehe .

Hehe. I take no offense; the slip-up was lost on me.It's quite a nice place to live, though.

We're still learning the subjunctive in all tenses and voices. The (relatively) odd formation patterns are beginning to get to me. Tomorrow, we have a 'celebration of knowledge' as my instructor says rather enthusiastically (read: quiz) over all the forms, so I think I'll have to do some studying.

It's been a while. The new year is in full force. I suppose the title is now incorrect; this class is now officially college-level, but it's an advanced placement course. We're up to Book IV of de Bello Gallico, having skipped to this point after reading about 10 chapters of Book I in the tongue and the remainder in English. Our teacher confesses that we don't have nearly as much time as we would like, as opposed to the previous two-year arrangement of higher Latin which devoted each year to studying prose and poetry respectively. I hope to continue this thread.